Study on preparation and properties of superhydrophobic surface of RTV silicone rubber

Silica (SiO2) powder and physical deposition technique were performed to fabricate superhydrophobic silicone rubber (SR) surfaces, and the contact angle and the rolling angle were 160.3 +/- 1.0 degrees and 2.8 +/- 0.3 degrees, respectively (the contact angle and the rolling angle of the original surface of the SR were 130 +/- 1.8 degrees and 36.7 +/- 0.8 degrees, respectively). The surface roughness of the sample was measured by interferometric three-dimensional topography profiler, and the results showed that the surface roughness increased after being treated by SiO2. A self-cleaning test was designed to verify the self-cleaning effect of the sample surface. Besides, a scanning electron microscope (SEM) was employed to observe the microstructure of the sample surface and the dispersion of SiO2, and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) was utilized to determine the element composition and content of the sample surface. In order to further demonstrate the superhydrophobic property of the surface of the sample, the horizontal bouncing test at room temperature (25 degrees C) and the tilted bouncing test at an angle of 10 degrees with the horizontal plane were carried out, and it was found that the sample had remarkable bouncing performance. Moreover, high temperature bounce tests were performed to investigate the stability of the surface superhydrophobic property of the sample, indicating that the sample had significant high temperature resistance. (C) 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Automated summary

Silica powder and physical deposition technique were used to fabricate superhydrophobic silicone rubber surfaces, increasing surface roughness and demonstrating significant self-cleaning effect, remarkable bouncing performance, and high temperature resistance.